I received a similar thing a few months ago.
They had used phishing to get the login to the guy's hotmail account - so now they had his real email, his actual name, and his address book.
It said he'd been mugged, beaten up and was stuck in hospital unable to pay the bill.
The main clues that this wasn't true was that ( a ) he's a big bloke, and ( b ) NHS treatment is free
And indeed, a few hours later he sent around an email having to tell everyone that if anyone tries to mug him there's only one guy going to the hospital and it's not him